The plane was about to touch down, signaling the end of a long, eight-hour night flight from southern Africa to the heart of Europe. I stared out the window, nearly vibrating with excitement, smiling more broadly than I have upon arrival in a city in a very long time. As we landed and disembarked, and I set foot on French soil for the first time in nearly a decade, all I could think was, “I’m in PARIS!”
I was in the City of Lights for a work trip, but that didn’t stop me from squeezing in every moment I could to luxuriate in being back in one of my favorite cities in the world and revisit all my favorite corners of it. I’d say I did a pretty admirable job of tackling some of Paris’s greatest hits in just a few days: light on the monuments (all of which I’ve seen before) but heavy on the cafes and the food. I briefly visited the Louvre, of course, and stopped in at my favorite café in the world, Café Angelina (home of the sumptuous hot chocolate l’africaine, the darkest, richest chocolate concoction you are ever likely to drink). I also hit up Les Deux Magots—haunt of Ernest Hemingway, and home to more sumptuous drinking chocolate (sense a theme here?), enjoyed drinks with coworkers in sight of the Eiffel Tower after work, and dined at my favorite Paris restaurant, Le Relais D’Entrecote—where it’s all steak and frites, all the time, except with salad and bread thrown in for free because, you know, this is Paris and they’re civilized like that. And I discovered an amazing gelato spot right outside my hotel in Montparnasse which crafts ice cream cones in the shape of roses!
My visit to Paris was a brief one filled mostly with meetings and with most of my precious hours spent sitting in conference rooms, but it was still magical. Why? Partly because of all the food and drinks and the pure joy of wandering the streets of the city, taking in the charming shops and restaurants and cafes and the timeless Parisian architecture. Partly because I got to speak French for the first time in years, and being able to communicate in the local language makes me feel just a teeny bit like a local. Partly because I feel like Paris gets me, and I get Paris. I understand the lure of a place where it’s okay to just sit and eat and drink and read in cafes all day, rather than feeling the need to be a typical tourist productively checking activities off a pre-determined list.
Hot chocolate at Les Deux Magots
But mostly, I think my time in Paris was magical because I adored the feeling of getting to return to a place I already knew and loved. I rarely do that. Over the past decade I’ve spent much of my travel energy chasing after the new, the exciting, the exotic. Istanbul! Buenos Aires! Thailand! South Africa! Every chance I’ve gotten over the past few years, I’ve booked myself to the newest, shiniest, most distant place my mind could envision…and believe me, I loved those trips and I’m glad I took them. But they also cut down on the amount of time I had to return to places I’d already grown to love; it’s hard to justify going back to rediscover the past when your inner traveler feels like the clock is constantly ticking on new adventures.
It was work that brought me to Paris, and I couldn’t be happier that it did. After years of vaguely thinking how nice it would be to return, I finally had the chance to go back and soak up everything I loved about one of my favorite cities in the world…and to remember how magical it can be to stop searching for the next great place and rediscover all the reasons you already love the ones you do.
Have you been to Paris? What are your favorite spots in the city? What parts of the world do you love to return to again and again?